On Thursday the Senate voted to adopt Bill C-16 – colloquially known as the “Transgender Bill.”

I voted in favour of Bill C-16 because it is obvious that in a just society transgendered individuals should enjoy the same protections as everyone else.

However, I have serious concerns about the drafting of Canada’s new “transgender” law and fear that it will not create rights for the transgendered as much as it will take away rights from women and girls.

Importantly, Bill C-16 does not provide explicit protections for the transgendered. Instead, it creates protections for “gender identity” and “gender expression”: vague concepts with no precise legal definitions.

During hearings at the Senate’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee, the Minister of Justice, Jody Wilson Raybould declined to provide a definition for “gender expression.”

But I can. Gender expression is an individual’s choice of clothing, hairstyle and makeup. It is a person’s appearance, look, and countenance.

As absurd as it may be to elevate fashion choices to the same level of legal protection as race, religion or creed, the problem with Bill C-16 is even worse than that.

By amending the Criminal Code and Human Rights Act to include the words “gender expression” as protected grounds (as opposed to “transgender” as protected grounds) Bill C-16 effectively redefines what it means to be a woman from something biological to something defined by external appearance.

What an extraordinary diminishment for women who have struggled for centuries to unshackle ourselves from a value system that apportions our worth based on our physical appeal and sexual allure.

But with the passage of Bill C-16, a woman’s status in Canada is no longer based on her biology or chromosomes – it is based on whether or not she “expresses” herself as female.

It is guaranteed that it will be only a short matter of time before C-16 triggers litigation that will place a financial and legal burden on women who will need to prove that biological women (and transitioned transgendered women) have a right to women’s only safe spaces and the right to sex-segregated activities.

They include athletic and spa facilities where women wish to be protected from the male gaze. They include women’s sports teams organized around the principle of fair competition.

I do recognize the history of violence and prejudice that transgendered individuals have endured. I also recognize that Bill C-16 seeks to denounce and redress the past pain, suffering, and isolation of the transgender community. Finally, I understand that after years of effort and struggle the passage of a "transgender bill" in Canada has taken on a symbolic importance far beyond pragmatic realities.

However, I hope that the victory realized this week in the Senate will not be one that comes at the expense of the rights of Canada’s women and girls.